Non-Classical
Europe

3500 BC to 300 CE

copyright 1997 by Historical Novelists Center

Be sure and catch the Atlas of Civilisation series, in this
case the early chapters of The Cultural Atlas of France,
The Cultural Atlas of Russia, etc.

We are no longer adding books on the Scythians. They were not
Mongols but Europids, and ruled Cental Asia until the Late Antiquity
invasions of the Huns drove them west and south, so that they
became known then as the Alans, while other segments were part
of the rootstock of the Franks. They will now be addressed on
the Central Eurasian page.

Germania (The Germans) ****
The first 27 "books" (sections like large chapters)
cover the geography of the Germanic areas and general Germanic
culture, while the remaining 19 detail individual tribes, as
they differ from the norm. Of course, the farther anything or
anyone is from the Roman border, the less accurate and more fanciful
the tale.
Written about 98 CE, Tacitus may not be a rigorous modern anthropologist,
but he's all we have for the period, prejudiced as he is. After
all, to him one of the signs of savagery of the Germans was that
they took women's advice! You can find him on the Internet Classics
Archive from MIT (see either Classical Greek or Roman bibliographies)
or via Paul Halsall's Internet Medieval Sourcebook (Dark Ages
or Middle Ages bibliographies). T2

Cunliffe, Barry

The Celtic World ****
St. Martin's Press; 224 pgs
Excellent reconstruction of the complex civilization that Classical
authors often dismiss as "barbarians" (which in the
end means merely someone who does not speek Greek as a native
language). Shows the continuance of the Celtic culture as part
of the base of the Middle Ages and modern world. T2

Delbrueck, Hans

The Barbarian Invasions; History of the Art
of War, volume II ****
University of Nebraska Press, 1980, trans. Walter J. Renfroe,
Jr.; orig. 1921; 505 pg, index
Reduces the numbers in the hordes to realistic levels, which
rather cuts into the heroism of the swamped Romans, who simply
show the decay of their military in losing things they might
have won. Excellent on debatable points and technical details.
T2

Ellis, Peter Beresford

The Druids ***
Eerdmans; 304 pg
One of several possible interpretations. T2

Evans, D. Ellis

Gaulish Names ***
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1967
An excellent compilation of Celtic names in Gaul and Britain,
recorded in Latin and Greek letters, but lumps together all questionable
names with Male Names, leaving only a few marked out as Female
Names. Actually, gender could have been determined as Probably
Female and Probably Male in most cases. As it is, it looks as
though only seven or eight female names were ever recorded. Sorts
according to philological roots. About 1500 names. T1

Glob, P. V.

The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved ****
Ballantine Books, NY; see also Faber and Faber, Ltd., and Cornell
University Press; 1965; trans. by Rupert Bruce-Mitford; now from
Barnes & Noble in hardcover
Details the finding and investigation of ancient sacrifices preserved
in northern European bogs (whence the title), and explores their
culture and deaths. Good for clothes of the period! Very readable.
T1

Green, Miranda J.

Celtic Goddesses: Warriors, Virgins and Mothers
****
George Braziller
Covers the not-PC Goddesses of the Irish and British based on
archeaology and myth, including war Goddesses, Goddesses of promiscuity
(have fun, girls, and make lots of new tribe members), and the
horse Goddesses. T3

The World of the Druids *****!
Thames & Hudson
Superb reconstruction of the place of Druids in Celtic life --
and most of non-Classical Europe was Celtic. Explains the Roman's
propaganda trying to discredit them and laws making them illegal,
because they always formed a core for rebellions. T2

Green, Miranda J., editor

The Celtic World *****!
Routledge Paul Kegan; 839 pg
Worth the possible back injury! Actually only 7" x 10",
but FAT. Covers towns and farms, politics (yes, they were sophisticated
enough to do more than growl at each other), religion, trade,
warfare, literature, all the good stuff. T2/3

Herm, Gerhard

The Celts: The People Who Came Out of the Darkness
****
Barnes & Noble, NY; 312 pg
Covers the 2000-year span of the archeological and spottily historical
culture that ruled Northern Europe and periodically invaded the
Classical Mediterranean. T2

Ingraham, Holly

People's Names: A Cross-cultural Reference Guide
to the Proper Use of Over 40,000 Personal and Familial Names
in Over 100 Cultures *****!
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, NC; 1997;
613 pgs, index, select annotated bibliography
Compiles Gaulish, Gothic, and other names of the period. Sarmatians,
etc, can be found in Iranian chapter of the historical section.
We are told the revised edition will be stronger in this. T1

King, John

The Celtic Druids' Year ****
Blandford, London
A lot of books on Druids out there are either really about the
neo-Pagan Reformed Druids of North America, or the Welsh-language
preservationist Druids. This is actually focused on the ancient
Celtic Druidism, especially its fundamental seasonal aspects.
T2

Laing, L & J

The Picts and the Scots ****
Alan Sutton; 172 pgs
Uses archeological as well as historic evidence to show both
the autochthonous Pictish culture back into the earliest (Roman)
period, and the invasive Scots from Scotia (modern Ireland),
and how they eventually melded. T1

McEvedy, Colin

The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History ***
Penguin Books, 1967; 96 pg, index
Good to show the spread of literacy, bronze, iron, and the influence
of the Mediterranean. T1

Osprey Military Books

The worst book out by Osprey still gets three stars. The best
are five stars and a bang. These are each a dense, military monograph
on weapons, tactics, strategy, and history, with some little
cultural background. Rarely at libraries, you will usually find
these where military miniatures are sold. T2/3

The Men-at-Arms Series on "Rome's Enemies":

Germanics & Dacians; #129

Gallic & British Celts; #158

Spain 218 BC-19 BC; #180

Now that's an area hard to dig up stuff on!

Pawlicki, T. B.

How to Build a Flying Saucer, and Other Proposals in
Speculative Engineering

Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1981

"Megalithic Engineering: How to Build Stonehenge and
the Pyramids with Bronze Age Technology" *****!

Absolutely brilliant! Instead of baffled awe by an archeologist,
a "no big deal" explanation by a man who used to work
in heavy earth construction with shovel crews. "The standard
way to erect pylons would have made no scene for Charlton Heston
in "The Ten Commandments." The pylon is drawn to the
site on a stoneboat; pallets have been traditional in the moving
trades since prehistoric times. A thousand slaves driven by whips
are not necessary, because a thirty-foot pylon with an average
cross section of five square feet weighs less than fifteen tons.
Three hundred slaves, or a dozen oxen, could handle it easily.
Even if the ancients had unlimited slaves, they used beasts of
burden because animals are more efficient..." and there
are tomb paintings of stoneboats drawn by cattle. Notice how
15 tons is everyday to him. Must be read to be appreciated in
total! Goes on to discuss the simple matter of building trilithons,
or moving megaliths overland. T3

Another great German-language onomastics text. Covers the
Saxons, English Germanics (Anglo-Saxons, Frisians, etc.), and
the Norse, all intermixed according to the philological roots
of the individual names, in the one of the two sections (translated
as Roots and Stems). Apparently every one he could find in literature,
manuscript or inscription, in which the one element could be
translated. A few thousand total. T1

Sharp, M.

A Land of Gods & Giants *****!

Fraser Stewart

Covers the ritual earthworks and megalithic sites of the
village farmers of Britain, active from 3400 to 800 BC. T1

Time-Life Books, the editors of

TimeFrame 3000-1500 BC: The Age of God-kings
***
Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1987
Very pictorial, good text. The air-brushed reconstructions are
sometimes too in love with vast plain surfaces rather than trying
to give us maximum pictorial information, and the maps, while
they cover the ground, are strictly minimal. Nice little essay
on megalithic building. T1

TimeFrame 600-400 BC: A Soaring Spirit ***
Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1987
Same format and flaws as the other, which is still pretty good.
Strictly Old World; guess the New World was on vacation. Does
give a nice picture of a Celtic town. T1

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Websites

Ancient World Web *****!

http://atlantic.evsc.virginia.edu/julia/AncientWorld.html

Superb linksite, which it would be silly to try and duplicate
here. Especially fine for including Asian, American, and African
sections, not just Europe and the Near East.

H-GIG Historical Times & Places ***

http://www.ucr.edu/h-gig/topperindex.html

A thorough-going linksite maintained by the University of California
at Riverside, H-GIG sorts by area, by era (ancient<yours>,
Medieval, early Modern, Modern, and 20th C), or by topic (military,
women, etc.). It's a good place to start a hunt for books and
essays online.

Internet Medieval Sourcebook *****!

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html

Halsall is collecting texts in translation, and also providing
links to other sites like Berkeley, so as not to duplicate effort.
This huge initial page links internally and externally to a list
of period works, from the late Byzantine-early Christian age to
the early Renaissance. Wonderful source, attractive without glitz,
many matrices of approach (eg, by a topic like women's roles or
by a period).

Especially, check his link to Other Medieval Sites. This is
actually a lot of Ancient sites, and there are a fine lot for
the oft-ignored Slavs and other Eastern European peoples.